Indian 16-Year-Old Jumps From 2000 To 2600 In Two Months

A 16-year-old Indian player has catapulted himself into the world elite and become an international master in a matter of just two months in what is described as an "exceptional" feat.

Aaditya Dhingra from Gurugram, a city southwest of New Delhi in India, had for more than three years been FIDE-rated between 2000 and 2200. In June this year, he had an official FIDE rating of 2027. Just two months later, the 16-year-old has become one of India's highest-rated players through a spectacular run of incredible results gaining a total of almost 600 rating points.

Aaditya's chess journey started in the 2nd Maharashtra International GM in India in June, where he scored 5/10 and gained 117 rating points. His best result was a draw against a 2415-rated IM.

His run continued in Serbia, where he played three tournaments in just above a month, making him reach the rating of a strong international master.

In the Vojvodina Open in Novi Sad, he gained a whopping 188 rating points by finishing on 6/9, an incredible 5 points higher than the expected score. It was a remarkable result as he only faced opponents more than 250 rating points higher than himself, scoring wins against GM Milos Pavlovic (2418) and FM Shawnak Shivakumar (2431). His rating performance was 2500, more than enough for his first IM norm. 

Just a day after the conclusion of the event, he played the Paracin Open, once again finishing on 6/9 and this time he gained 125 rating points. Among his victims this time, were GM Dejan Pikula (2339) and IM Vuk Djordjevic (2385).

His IM title was secured with his final norm in the Rudar 14 IM round-robin tournament in Serbia, which concluded on August 2. Aaditya won the tournament with 7/9, two points ahead of the rest. This time, his rating gain was 151 points, according to chess-results.

The finish in the 3rd round was stylish.

The total increase of 581 rating points in these four tournaments should take Aadiya to 2608 on FIDE's September list breaking into India's top 20 highest-rated players.

Aaditya's massive rating jump can in part be explained by a K-factor (which determines how much your rating changes if you score higher or lower than expected) of 40 being used due to him being under 18 years and rated below 2300 at the start of the event. His last event started before his new rating of 2457 was official, so the previous rating was used in the calculations. Players rated higher than 2400 use a K-factor of 10, according to FIDE's rating regulations.

Speaking to Chess.com, Aaditya says he credits his coaches for his improvement.

"I believe a lot of self-study and getting proper guidance, and learning from your experience has been the key. I wanted to achieve the title during my school time."

He feels that he is already at the level of a strong IM, but admits he needs more experience to prove that 2600 level.

"My main goal was to become an international master. Now my target is to become a grandmaster and further, I want to continue to play more chess and become a professional," he says.

Going from a rating in the 2000s to 2600 in a matter of a few months is likely an unprecedented feat. Research made by Chess.com shows that a selected number of the game's biggest stars took years to go from the 2000s to 2600 for the first time.

• Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu: 4 years 2 months
• Alireza Firouzja: 4 years and 3 months
• Gukesh Dommaraju: 5 years 1 month
• Nodirbek Abdusattorov: 5 years 4 months
• Magnus Carlsen: 5 years 9 months
• Fabiano Caruana: 5 years 9 months

In a statement to Chess.com, FIDE's Head of PR Anna Burtasova calls the case with Aaditya Dhingra "exceptional" and "extremely rare." FIDE provided Chess.com with a list of the players who gained the most rating points in one month.

The list is topped by Islombek Sindarov from Uzbekistan who increased his own rating from 1638 to 2229 in September 2016. Seven years later, the 17-year-old candidate master has a rating of 1833.

Only two of the players on the list have made jumps to reach grandmaster level. One is GM Jergus Pechac from Slovakia who has the 12th-highest rating gain in one month by going from 2114 to 2540 in March 2014. Another one is Danish GM Jonas Bjerre, who has the 76th-highest jump when he went from 2075 to 2424 in January 2016.

2020 U.S. Junior Chess Champion GM John Burke is not on the list of the biggest gains but made headlines when he broke 2600 two months after being rated 2258 in August 2015. He is currently rated 2592.

Aaditya says he plans to play Qatar Masters in October next.

(Editors note: This article updated on August 9 with some information about the K-factor and how it affected his rating change)